A personal quest to promote the use of wind energy and hydrogen technology in the Great Lakes area of the United States. The Great Lakes area is in a unique position to become an energy exporting region through these and other renewable energy technologies. *Update 2014: Just do it everywhere - Dan*

New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) have released a long-anticipated call for renewable energy as part of the state's efforts to meet its 30% by 2015 renewable portfolio standard (RPS). The $250 million solicitation, administered by NYSERDA, seeks electric generation [read more]

Sempra U.S. Gas & Power and BP Wind Energy have announced that the 21 MW Auwahi Wind facility has entered commercial operation. The wind farm features eight Siemens wind turbines built on the southeast ridge of Maui's Haleakala volcano. According to the companies, the turbines will generate enough clean energy [read more]

Vestas has received a 90 MW order from Enel Green Power for 45 V100-2.0 MW wind turbines, which will be installed at the Valle de los Vientos wind project in the Antofagasta region of Chile. The contract includes the delivery, transportation, installation and commissioning of the turbines; a VestasOnline Business [read more]

Apex Wind Energy Inc. has awarded renewable energy developer TUV SUD America Inc. a master service agreement to perform maintenance services on Apex's met-mast fleet in the U.S. The contract covers a range of field services for Apex's met-mast fleet across the U.S., including full sensor replacement, maintenance on current [read more]

The U.S. Department of the Interior's (DOI) Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) says it has received an unsolicited request for a research lease in the wind energy area (WEA) off Virginia identified for commercial wind leasing. The research would inform future renewable energy production within and around the WEA [read more]

Invenergy Wind LLC has announced that its 200 MW California Ridge Wind Project has been completed and has entered commercial operation. The project is located on approximately 27,700 acres of private land in Illinois' Champaign and Vermilion counties, and features 134 GE 1.6 MW wind turbines. The facility is operated [read more]

NextEra Energy Canada ULC says its affiliate, Conestogo Wind LP, has completed and brought into service its 22.9 MW Conestogo Wind Energy Centre. The project, located in Wellington County, Ontario, comprises 10 Siemens wind turbines. All of the power from the project is being sold to the Ontario Power Authority [read more]

Renewable energy developer Element Power has signed an option agreement to lease land from Coillte, an Ireland-based natural resources company, that will enable Element Power to consider wind farm development on some Coillte-owned sites in the Irish midlands as part of a major wind energy export project. The deal gives [read more]

The clean energy industry faced several challenges this year, including the uncertainty surrounding the fate of the production tax credit for wind power and the demise of some high-profile solar energy firms. Public sentiment about issues related clean energy and the environment, however, has not always reflected developments in the [read more]

DTE Energy says construction of the 110 MW Thumb Wind Park in Michigan has been completed and that the facility is now at full-scale commercial operation. The wind power project uses 69 1.6 MW GE wind turbines and covers 15,000 acres in Bloomfield, McKinley and Sigel townships in Huron County, [read more]

Dominion Virginia Power, which was recently awarded a grant by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to complete the engineering, site evaluation and planning for an offshore project in Virginia, says Alstom's Haliade 150 offshore turbines will be used for this demonstration-scale initiative. Dominion will install two Haliade 150 turbines [read more]

Alliant Energy Corporate Services Inc. (AECS) has issued a request for proposals (RFP) on behalf of Iowa-based Interstate Power and Light Co. for wind energy projects. The RFP is specifically seeking up to 100 MW of wind generation that is deliverable to Interstate Power and Light's electrical balancing area inside [read more]

NaiKun Wind Energy Group Inc. has signed a supplier agreement with Siemens Canada Ltd. for 100 of Siemens' SWT-4.0-130 4 MW turbines. NaiKun Wind is a British Columbia-based renewable energy company that is building a 400 MW offshore wind project. Siemens and NaiKun Wind will cooperate in advancing the project [read more]

Over the past five years, installed wind power capacity in the U.S. has increased at an annualized rate of 27.8% to about 57.616 GW, and industry revenue is expected to increase at an annualized rate of 15.1% to $5.8 billion over the five years ending this year, finds a new [read more]

Duke Energy Renewables and the North American Development Bank have signed two $110 million loans for the construction of the Los Vientos I and Los Vientos II wind projects in Texas' Willacy and Cameron counties in Texas. The combined installed capacity of the wind farms will be 402 MW. The [read more]

Ontario's Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) has selected three new suppliers of regulation service, a grid-balancing function traditionally provided by generators. By helping to correct small, sudden changes in power-system frequency, grid regulation balances power flows and maintains the reliability of the power system. This quick response is becoming increasingly [read more]

Finavera Wind Energy Inc. has signed an agreement to sell a 300 MW British Columbia wind project portfolio to Pattern Renewable Holdings Canada ULC, a subsidiary of Pattern Energy Group LP, for C$40 million. Finavera will maintain a 10% interest in the 105 MW Cloosh Valley Wind Project and is [read more]

EDF Renewable Energy (formerly enXco) says the 161 MW Spinning Spur Wind Project, located approximately 30 miles west of Amarillo, Texas, is now operational and supplying electricity to the regional transmission grid. The project, which comprises 70 Siemens 2.3 MW turbines, will deliver power to Southwestern Public Service Co., a [read more]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has published a notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the proposed Plains & Eastern Clean Line Transmission Project, which would help integrate more renewable energy onto the electric grid. The project would include an approximately 700-mile, overhead, high-voltage direct-current [read more]

EDP Renovaveis SA (EDPR) has entered into an agreement with China Three Gorges International (Hong Kong) Co. Ltd., a fully owned subsidiary of China Three Gorges, to sell a 49% equity shareholding and 25% of the outstanding shareholders loans in EDP Renovaveis Portugal SA for a total consideration of 359 [read more]

GE and the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association have announced that the Colorado Highlands Wind project, located in northeastern Colorado, has been completed. The 67 MW wind farm consists of 42 GE 1.6 MW turbines and is jointly owned by Alliance Power Inc. and GE Energy Financial Services. Tri-State has [read more]

The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) has awarded a $260,000 grant to the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Lowell's Wind Energy Research Group. The grant includes $115,000 for a graduate student program, in conjunction with MassCEC's Wind Technology Testing Center in Charlestown. The grant also provides $100,000 to support the continued [read more]

GL Garrad Hassan says it provided engineering services to Pattern Energy that helped the developer secure construction loan financing for its Ocotillo Wind Power Project. The 265 MW wind farm will consist of 112 Siemens 2.3 MW turbines with 108-meter rotors and will be located almost entirely on Bureau of [read more]

TWN Wind Power has completed two wind projects at White Earth Nation, an American Indian reservation located in northwestern Minnesota. The two sites, Ojibwa Building Supplies in Waubun, and White Earth Community Service Center in Naytahwaush, are now benefiting from wind energy. Each site consists of an Endurance Wind Power [read more]

The above links are all to the e-book versions of these chapbooks.
For paperback versions and to view a listing of all my books as they are released click
HERE: Dan Stafford's Poetic Universe

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About Me

Happily married with two grown children out on their own, I've had extensive life experience in many areas. I consider myself a Progressive, and I strive to make the world a better place for those around me and those who'll follow after us. I am an Air Force Veteran, and I have been a Telecommunications Technician since 1993, with a Vocational Diploma in Aircraft Electronics. My interests are Environmentalism, Science, Social Justice, Poetry and Music, Reading, Karate, and learning Spanish. I'm originally from Southern Wisconsin, and have lived in the Chicago Metro area (Naperville, Plainfield, & Oak Brook) since late 1997. Moved to Temecula, CA January of 2015.

Why I Publish This Blog:

"One thing that many people do not realize is that states like Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan are sitting on a gold mine of wind energy potential. Or, more properly, next to the mine. The Great Lakes are probably the area in the USA with the third largest inland wind energy potential. Think of just the nickname for Chicago. "The Windy City". Milwaukee is even windier, I can tell you. Why? Because they sit on the edge of a great flat area where there is both a land-water temperaturedifferential, and a large flat expanse of water that is comparably shallow.Oilrigs certainly operate in deeper waters. And you won't have to construct transmission lines all the way from the plains of Montana to put it to use.

The Great Lakes area has an opportunity to get the jump on wind energy's future, if that fact isrecognized and exploited. Wind energy means jobs for construction and maintenance workers, thousandsof them. Wind energy means leasing rights and extra money for family farmers struggling to make it onagriculture alone. In most cases farmers can grow crops right up to the base of a windmill. The landfootprint has a small impact on total farm acreage. Wind energy also means freedom from fluctuatingfuel prices. Wind is free. The cost of a barrel of polluting oil can be raised or lowered drasticallybased on fears or political whims. The potential gains are enormous. We've all seen the flow of goodmanufacturing jobs out of the area. Well, they can't tell the wind to blow in another country so it'smore "convenient" or cheaper to produce. The wind is perfectly happy to whip up opportunities for usright around here. Most of all, because we here in the Great Lakes region have the potential to havea huge positive impact on U.S. energy industry emissions' contribution to global warming."

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Dan Stafford - PublisherClick on this pic to e-mail Dan.WE WELCOME ENERGY STORY SUBMISSIONS!
Please note the E-mail link by the title of the webpage. Comments, stories, and article submissions are welcome.
Any accepted submission entitles the submitter to a link on the Journal page included at the bottom of their submitted entry when published to the journal.
The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal makes no claim as to the accuracy of submitted material. The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal neither endorses nor opposes opinions expressed in submitted material. Submitter must provide
name, city, and state or country. The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal imples no promise to publish all submissions. Adult content will definitely NOT be published.
Submitted material will be screened and appropriate entries published at the owner's discretion.

Safe, healthy, good for the economy, good for the environment, good for farmers, good for you, and just downright good produce:

I strongly encourage those seriously interested in learning about the technology, players, politics, and issues of Wind Energy to spend time browsing the
American Wind Energy Association website. They are the premier industry trade organization and have extensive resources available.
(www.awea.org)